This menu is ideal for either a casual dinner or a special occasion meal. We love it because it turns out well every time and looks lovely on the plate. If you’re trying to gauge the time it takes to cook this meal, remember that you need to soak the rice (twenty-five minutes or longer), peel and devein the shrimp, roast and grind the cumin seeds and core and thinly slice the apples.

Salad of Watercress and Seasoned Apple [1]
Shrimp in a Pink Sauce [2]
Rice with Peas and Carrots, Flavored with Cardamom [3]
--(all of these recipes are adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's Cookbook: Easy East/West Menus for Family and Friends [4])

As far as cooking the meal, we found the following method works well: The day before, make the pink sauce. The day of the meal, soak the rice [5], then peel and devein the shrimp, prepare the rice ingredients and cook the rice, then prepare the watercress salad ingredients. When there are five minutes to go on the rice, start the shrimp dish. After the shrimp dish is complete, combine the apples and watercress and toss with dressing. Easy to enjoy and delicious to eat.

TIP: Where to Find Out-of-Print Books [6]